Original Paper(Vol.55 No.9 pp.807-812)

Analysis of Impact Characteristics of Tennis Ball

Noritoshi NAKAGAWA, Yasuhisa SEKIGUCHI and He BAI

Abstract:The motion of the tennis ball after impact is relative to impact area, impact initial conditions (impact angle, impact velocity, and rotational speed), and the elastic characteristic of racket. Thus, the phenomenon of the impact with a spin is very complicated. To solute this problem, a model of racket-ball impact was developed in the present research based on the numerical method. Impact experiments are conducted, and the entire process of impact between the tennis ball and the racket is recorded by high speed camera. In the experiments, the racket is divided into four areas: central area, top area, side area, and near area. It was found that the each impact area has different effect on the motion of the tennis ball after impact.

Key Words:Tennis ball, Racket, Strings, Impact, Spin, Rotational speed